Echoes of Night
by Darkbain
Summary: A young man in a slightly different version of our world finds a ter'angreal which takes him to Tel'Aran'Rhiod. He finds himself faced with a choice between moral obligation and a chance at great power the world has never seen.


I promised myself I wouldn't do this, but my better judgment prevailed, and I guess I got the best of... myself. So here is my brief explanation of the world where my story takes place. It is AU (of course, what good fan fic isn't?), taking place in a sort of alternate version of our world, which has incorporated the world of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time as a history of our own world. Beyond that, I hope you can figure it out for yourself. I do not own Wheel of Time, or any of the characters from that series. I am not making any money off of this piece. Also note, very minor spoilers concerning several of the Forsaken.  
  
And so did it come to pass that the Dragon, who was and is Lord of the  
Morning, wholly and utterly destroyed the dark one Shai'Tan,  
scattering his followers beyond the edges of the Pattern.  
Thus it was that Tarmon Gaiden was ended, and a new Age came again.  
  
from The History of an  
Age- The Last Battle  
  
A New Thread in the Pattern  
  
I  
  
The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Seventh Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose above the Pacific Ocean. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.*  
Carrying with it a tinge of salt and a faint bite of the coming fall, the wind blew across the low waves towards the west coast of North America. It picked up a bit as it neared the land, and carried itself inland and up into the wooded hills. As the breeze passed through the trunks of the fir trees, it caught the attention of three young men out for a hike.  
"I'd swear you can smell the ocean from here," said Evan, adjusting the pack on his shoulders. His short brown hair was ruffled a bit as the wind passed, and he turned his head towards the west, where the wind was coming from.  
"Well no kidding! If grandma back there would hurry his butt up, we'd be able to see the ocean too." Ryan turned and looked back down the path to where a third youth was struggling along. "Hey Adam! Hurry your light-forsaken body up! There's not much day left."  
"Yeah, and Shai'Tan take you if we miss the sunset!" yelled Evan.  
"That name's bad luck, you know," said Adam as he reached the two, breathing hard.  
"Oh no, not bad luck. You know, you sound like my great- grandmother." Evan rolled his eyes and poked Adam in the ribs. Adam responded with a punch to the shoulder. Evan aimed a kick at him, but before he could launch it, Ryan grabbed his leg and sent him onto the ground.  
"Alright, knock it off," said Ryan. "We have less than an hour left," he added, looking towards the sun where it was dropping through the trees.  
The three young men continued there way up the path as it wound through the evergreens. Here and there, an odd small plant with enough bravery had rooted itself on the path, but beyond that, the way was clear. Occasionally, one of the boys would spot a deer, or perhaps a rabbit. As they walked, the light began to fade within the trees, and they picked up their pace.  
  
The trees ended in a large clear-cut, and the three emerged into the last light of the setting sun. Some miles to the west, and much lower in elevation, they could just see the glimmering of the Pacific Ocean as it sparkled in the sun's dying rays.  
"That was a longer walk than you said it would be," said Adam, taking off his pack and breathing hard.  
"Oh, quit whining, you big baby," came Ryan's reply.  
"It wasn't that far," said Evan, finding a rock and sitting down on it. "I'm glad we could tear you away from Ellen for a couple of days."  
"Yeah, well her family is on vacation this week anyways," said Ryan, a dazed look in his eyes. It could only be love.  
"So what's the deal, when are you getting married?" asked Adam.  
"Soon, I hope. I'm trying to save money for a ring, but my trip to Europe kind of cleaned out my bank account.  
"Yeah, I know what you mean." Adam nodded.  
The three sat there, staring towards the setting sun, watching it as it sunk into the ocean. They discussed their lives, and what they had been doing over the past several months. Evan listened, as he so often did, while the other two talked. He didn't say much, he never did. He felt that it was better to listen than to speak, as it was hard to learn if your mouth was open.  
"I need to find a job on Monday. Hopefully I can get on as a maintenance guy at the place my dad works," said Ryan.  
"Yeah, didn't you work there a few summers before?" asked Adam.  
"The fact that your dad works there too is a big help. Trust me, I know," added Evan. His dad had gotten him his job, and while he was grateful for it, and enjoyed the work, he found it difficult at times to escape his father's shadow. "I don't want to go back to work on Monday."  
"It's only Friday, remember? Don't worry about it."  
"Yeah, fine," said Evan, trying to get more comfortable on his seat against the rock. "Ow! Hey, what's this?" he said, twisting around to look where he had just been seated. "Hey, look at this!" Stuck in the ground beneath the rock was a small piece of polished metal, glimmering faintly in the day's fading light. Evan worked at the piece, trying to free it. Eventually, he was able to get a solid grasp on it. As he pulled, he unearthed what looked like a small silver hand holding a globe. Attached to it was a fine silver chain, long enough to be a necklace.  
"Whoa, what did you find?" asked Ryan.  
"I don't know." He looked sideways at Adam. "And you said I would have bad luck."  
"Yeah, well that thing's probably cursed or something. You're going to get sick and wither away like that guy in Thinner did."  
"I'm sure." Evan inspected the thing. The globe appeared to be some sort of gem, although as he tried to get a clear look at it, it seemed to shift and twist so that he could not focus his eyes on it. He thought this a bit odd, but payed it no mind. The hand and chain appeared to be in perfect condition, the chain made up of very fine links. He gave it a last look before stuffing it into his pocket. It would remain there, forgotten, until his weekend with his three best friends was over.  
  
II  
  
"Mom? Hello?" Evan called as he walked into his home.  
"Hi honey," came his mother's reply from the other end of the house. "How was your camping trip?"  
"Oh, it was good. It was good to see Ryan especially," he said as he opened the door to his bedroom. Setting his bag down on his bed, he unzipped it and began emptying its contents onto his floor.  
"If you have any dirty laundry, make sure you leave it in the laundry room for me, ok sweety? I hate to leave you right after you get back, but I have to go pick up you sister from her dance practice, then I'll be home around six to make dinner," Evan's mother said as she stood at the door to his bedroom. "I'm glad your home safe. See you in an hour."  
"Ok, bye mom." Evan continued riffling through his bag for dirty clothes when he heard a jingling in the pockets of his jeans. He reached in to find the necklace with the hand holding the globe. He held it up to the light, again trying to focus his eyes on the orb, and again failing to do so. He then inspected the chain and the hand. It appeared to be clean. Without a thought, he slipped it over his neck, and bent down to grab his laundry.  
Afternoon turned into evening, and evening into night. As the sun went down, Evan's weekend of hiking and the outdoors caught up with him. He said goodnight to his family, stripped off his clothes, and got into bed. Sleep took him quickly.  
  
Evan's eyes opened. He was in his bedroom, of course, but something was strange. He got out of his bed and walked to his window to see if he could locate the source of the strange half-light which filled his room. It should be dark, he thought to himself. He poked his finger through the blinds and saw that the yard was also filled with the same strange light as his room. He removed his finger from the blinds and scratched his head, trying to reason this out.  
A tingling sensation climbed up the back of his neck, as though someone were watching him. He turned quickly, searching his room for the source of the watcher. He realized no one was there and walked toward his bedroom door. One step away, and it appeared open. He blinked, confused, and the door appeared closed again. Finally, he realized what the strangeness was.  
"This is a dream," he said aloud. The sound had a dull echo to it, not at all like one would expect from a small bedroom. He looked around the room again, looked down at himself, then looked at his alarm clock. The numbers changed as he looked at it, the time changing rapidly. Definitely a dream, but the most real dream he had ever experienced. Wonderingly, he walked about his house.  
Finding himself in front of the large mirror in the entry way, he stopped. As he stood looking at himself in his boxers, he noticed that he still wore the hand and globe necklace which he had found. Intrigued, he reached around his neck to remove it so he might get a better look at it. As he removed it from his neck, however, his vision faded.  
.And he found himself lying in his bed again, only this time in darkness. His alarm read 1:40, almost 5 hours after he had gone to sleep. Had he really dreamt that long? It did not seem so. He reached around his neck and felt the necklace. He thought it strange that he would dream about it, and in such clarity. Without much though, he rolled over and went back to sleep.  
And found himself right back in his bedroom again, amidst the same strange half-light, the same feeling of being watched, the same feeling of almost-reality. Without getting up, he grabbed a hold of the necklace and removed it again, instantly finding himself in his dark room again. What was this necklace he had found? It seemed to invoke a very real dream world which he did not understand. He left it on his neck and tried to sleep.  
For several hours he lay there trying to force himself to sleep, and unable to as he thought about the strange necklace and the odd dream world which it seemed to bring him too. He tried to remember what he had learned in psychology class last term about dreams and their meanings, but he had not paid much attention in that class. He remembered the health project he had done on dreams in high school though. Everything he had read had suggested that dreams were just the unconscious mind releasing information. He tried to reason out what it was that the necklace made him experience. He lay there a while longer, and eventually his thoughts wound down, and he drifted back to sleep again, finding himself back in his room.  
He got up and reached to open his dresser drawer, trying to decide what to wear, and he found himself already dressed in his favorite pair of jeans and t-shirt. He looked down, confused, and found that his shirt changed to another one, then back again. Then he thought about a suit and tie, and found himself wearing one. He laughed, and found himself wearing nothing but his boxers and the necklace again. Then he thought of himself naked, and found himself in nothing but his skin, the necklace still around his neck. He imagined the necklace gone, and found himself lying in his bed again, awake. This time, however his room was not dark. He looked at his clock and found it to be almost eight in the morning. He tried to go back to sleep but could not.  
  
III  
  
Ryan spent the next several nights wearing the strange hand and globe necklace to bed, finding himself in the strange dream world. The second night, he ventured out of his house and found that if he thought of a place, he could be there. Anywhere in the world. He did not go far from his home on that night though, staying mostly in his small home town, wandering around in that strange half light. The next night he ventured further, going to his family's cabin in the mountains. As he wandered the dream world, he discovered a few things which he could do while there. If he focused on an object, he could make it change. If he thought of something that wasn't there, he could make it appear. He also found that he could change not only his clothes, but his appearance as well, making himself older, taller, darker, or whatever he felt like. During his day at work, he would find himself thinking of new things to try that night. In the dream world, he could explore vast forests, visit places anywhere in the world, and walk in places where no mad had ever set foot. Sometimes, while in a town or someone's house, someone would pop into view for a few seconds, then disappear as quickly as they came. It was very exciting for him.  
One night, some few weeks after he had discovered the necklace, he was wandering atop Mount Everest when he felt something strange. Something seemed to be pulling at him from some direction he could not determine. He had little time to consider this strange feeling before a shift, like what happened when he would jump to somewhere across the world, happened. He found himself in what appeared to be a stone chamber, large and completely windowless. At one end stood a pair of large wooden doors. Along each wall were a half a dozen flame torches, which though lit added little to the omnipresent half light. Wondering what had brought him to such a strange place, Evan turned around to find a sight which took the breath completely out of his lungs. Standing there at the door-less end of the chamber stood the most breath-taking woman he had ever seen. Long dark hair framed a pale face which held a pair of intense eyes which sparkled with an intensity he had never seen. She wore an oddly cut dress of the purest white, uninterrupted except for a silver belt which appeared to made up of a crescent moon and stars. Evan stared in amazement, unable to speak. He was face to face with the Daughter of the Night, the one who in faery tales ate young children and stole the moon and stars to make her jewelry.  
"So, a male Dreamwalker. Rare indeed," she said almost to herself. Evan stood frozen, unable to speak or move. She approached him, gliding across the room with the grace of a snowflake. He eyes looked him up and down, and Evan felt as though he were being examined from the inside out. "What is your name, Dreamwalker?"  
"Evan, mistress. Please don't eat me," he managed to get out, trembling heavily.  
"Evan," she said, touching him on the neck. "It has been a very long time since I have seen anyone here. A very long time." For a moment she appeared to be lost in though, then spoke up. "Ishamael, come in here and meet our guest, Evan. My name is Lanfear. Please, have a seat." She gestured and three heavily decorated chairs appeared. Evan turned at the sound of the doors opening to find himself looking at a tall, dark haired man dressed in unrelieved black. The Betrayer of Hope walked to the chairs and sat down.  
"Please, have a seat Evan."  
  
______________________ * In the spirit of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan, which this fan fiction is based around, I borrowed this opening paragraph, which Mr. Jordan uses in the opening chapters of each book in the series. All credit for this paragraph goes to him. 


End file.
